White House greeting card made in Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - The White House greeting card being sent throughout the country has Michigan fingerprints all over it.

President Obama's 2013 card was designed by graphic artist Chris Hankinson of Hilltop Studios in Grand Rapids, Champion Die Inc. of Comstock Park made the die and Admore Inc. of Detroit made the card, according to The Grand Rapids Press ( http://bit.ly/1dRzH4z ).

The pop-up card has a three-dimensional image of the White House and the Obama's two dogs.

"I'm deeply honored, to put it mildly," the 52-year-old Hankinson told the newspaper. "It's something that never crossed my mind that I might be doing someday."

The card was signed by Barack and Michelle Obama and daughters, Malia and Sasha. Calvin Coolidge issued the first official presidential Christmas message to Americans in 1927. President Dwight Eisenhower started sending holiday greeting cards on a large scale 60 years ago.

Hankinson was approached last year to design the 2012 card, but the job was later given to someone else.

"When it didn't work out, it was kind of a bummer and a disappointment," he said.

The White House contacted him about this year's card in July.

"What happened is they were going through a number of possible companies to do it," Hankinson said. "Most, if not all, did their manufacturing out of the United States."

Not Hankinson, who ended up working with the Michigan companies to produce the card.

Even the hand folding of the cards was done in state at Handy Bindery Co. in Clinton Township.

"Those people at Handy Bindery are the real heroes," Hankinson said. "It's easy to design them. It's another thing to fold them."

The project was not done without hiccups along the way. The White House wanted the family dog, Bo, included on the card, but then the Obamas got a second dog, Sunny, in August.

"They called a week later and said they needed another dog," Hankinson said.